§ Mr. John Mooreasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish a table showing (a) the number of employed in employment, (b) the employed labour force and (c) the numbers wholly unemployed, in the form of annual indices from 1945 to the present day, 1945=100.
§ Mr. GoldingBecause there has been a number of changes in the methods of making employment estimates, a consistent series of figures from 1945 to the present day does not exist. The table30W below shows indices for the periods during which the figures are comparable with the beginning of each period taken as the base year. Details of the methods used to produce the estimates on which the figures below are based are given in British Labour Statistics—Historical Abstract 1886–1968 (Appendix B and footnotes to pp 218–220) and Department of Employment Gazette for March 1975 (pp 193–196, December 1976 (pp 1344–1346) and June 1977 (pp 604–605).
Great Britain (mid-year figures) Employees in employment Employed labour force‡ Registered unemployed§ 1945 … * 100 100 1946 … * 90 365 1947 … * 93 252 1948(1) … * 93 264 1948(2) … * 100 100 1949 … * 100 93 1950(1) … * 101 99 1950(2) … 100 100 99 1951 … 101 102 66 1952 … 101 102 107 1953 … 101 102 100 1954 … 103 103 82 1955 … 105 105 66 1956 … 106 106 69 1957 … 106 106 89 1958 … 106 105 133 1959(1) … 106 105 139 1959 (2) … 100 100 139 1960 … 102 102 108 1961 … 104 103 92 1962 … 105 104 135 1963 … 105 104 167 1964 … 107 105 115 1965 … 108 106 98 1966 … 109 107 92 1967 … 107 105 169 1968 … 106 105 183 1969 … 106 105 175 1970 … 105 104 190 1971 … 103 103 249 1972 … 103 103 277 1973 … 106 105 197 1974 … 106 105 187 1975 … 106 105 300 1976 … 105 104 463 1977 … 106† 105† 504 * Separate estimates of employees in employment for these years are not available. † Employment indices for 1977 are provisional. ‡ The employed labour force comprises employees in employment, the self-employed (with or without employees) and Her Majesty's Forces. § From 1967 onwards, full-time adult students registering for temporary employment have been excluded. Their inclusion before then is thought to have had a negligible effect on the index.